director who's going to be the next cia director. the president's going to have a full plate of nominations to put forward. what did he say about susan rice today? >> reporter: he was asked his thoughts on ambassador rice, currently the u.s. ambassador to the u.n. i'll let you listen to his remarks then we can talk about it. this is the president. >> susan rice is extraordinary. couldn't be prouder of the job she's done. [ applause ] >> reporter: so from the whole cabinet. little awkward hard to tell if the applause were necessarily for susan rice or right before he said that he had also called out secretary napolitano and the veterans affairs department saying it's their birthday. perhaps they were also applauding the birthdays. but i'm told the fact that susan rice is up on the hill should not necessarily be read as an early sign that the white house is giving her sort of a prerun dry run for a nomination. at this is in part because she wanted to go answer questions on the hill to clear her name and that this was part of her desire